


Bed Sharing

by Sydbond



Series: Softer [1]
Category: The Brave (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Fluff, Jalton, Sharing a Bed, Tears, and almost smut, leadinguptothecabin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-13 11:51:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14748329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sydbond/pseuds/Sydbond
Summary: The only way they can manage to keep the tears at bay is by finding refuge in each other's beds.





	Bed Sharing

**Author's Note:**

> You asked about those kisses, you got them! Have fun :)

Elijah dies and Jaz breaks. She barely makes a sound on the way home, but she clings to his lifeless body as if she could revive it. 

Back at the hut, once they’ve pried her away from Elijah, she tucks herself in a corner of the couch because it’s the farthest her legs can carry her and the guys find her staring into space, lost somewhere only she knows. Preach and McG hover because that’s what they do, and when the later touches her shoulder she jumps away from him. 

He’s hurt, and she hates herself for it, but she’s also hurting and the pain takes up all the space in her heart right now. So she gathers the rest of her strength and she goes to her room, avoiding their glances. She can feel their eyes on her, burning down her back, none hotter than Top’s

Jaz cries, lying helplessly on the top of her covers. Her tears turn into deep pulling sobs that hurt more than she’s ever been hurt. She’s been let down a lot in her life, but Elijah’s death feels like the biggest one yet. 

Before Elijah, she went in and out of teams, resigned to the fact that she’d always be _the woman _on the team, the filled quota that was tossed and turned and used, but never actually valued.__

__He’d been different. They’d all been different; Preach and his wise words, McG with his brotherly love and Top who was his own category, but Elijah had been her first friend. He’d tunneled his way into her heart against her will, had burst through her defenses and set a firm camp there, unwavering._ _

__Preach comes later. He knocks on her door, telling her there’s dinner if she wants some and she doesn’t reply. Instead, she stays curled into a tight ball in her bed._ _

__It’s almost midnight when she hears a soft knock on her door. Without seeing him, she knows it’s Top because she’s memorized every single damn thing about him._ _

__« Can I come in? » he asks from the other side of the door._ _

__« Yeah, » Jaz sniffles. She’d like to say she looks strong, that she takes the news like a soldier should, but she doesn’t. The tears keep coming and going. Right now she’s relatively dry, but it doesn’t erase the fact she just spent hours crying for her dead best friend._ _

__She wants his touch, craves it actually, and it scares her. She’s always known that her feelings for her CO went deeper than they should but it's the first time she feels them coming at her that strongly. It’s like a gulf of wind, knocking the air out of her lungs._ _

__Jaz finds herself angling her body towards him like a plant hungry for sun. It feels like she needs him to breathe. That sudden throbbing need has her shaken up, because it was never that incapacitating. Maybe because Elijah used to take such a huge part of her and now that part sits empty, ready to be filled by Top._ _

__« Hey, you know that if you want to talk, you can always... » Top trails off and points at his room._ _

__She nods, too afraid to speak because tears are threatening to come back. She bites her lip, eyes cast down. If she listened to herself, she would be held up in Top’s room for the next week._ _

__« Well, g’night, » he says after a few moments._ _

__Panic flares up inside of Jaz, stronger than ever. She needs him to breathe and her throat constricts as she sees him leave._ _

__« Adam, wait, »_ _

__He stops and she sees the question in his eyes. She never calls him Adam. It's too personal, too deep. But she feels like her heart has been wrenched away from her chest and she falls back on the only thing that has steadily made it feel alive._ _

___Adam. ____ _

____It’s nothing more than a name, but still, to Jaz, it’s powerful._ _ _ _

____« Do you think you could.. Stay for a bit? »_ _ _ _

____He nods and closes the door from the inside. It’s not long before he’s sitting next to her on her bed and she starts crying because she finally feels like she has a safe place with Adam there._ _ _ _

____Hesitantly at first, he puts an arm around her, trying to soothe her, but the sobs wreck her body and he ends up cradling her head against his chest, softly rubbing his fingers through her hair._ _ _ _

____« It’s alright, » Adam whispers to her ear and she clings to the words. He’s never lied to her, has always brought her back home safe and she trusts him to bring her back to that safe place once again._ _ _ _

____The next morning, she wakes up with her whole body curled into Adam’s, still wrapped into his arms. She glances at his peaceful face and her heart flutters before it remembers it should be screaming for Elijah._ _ _ _

____At that moment, she realizes how deep is the trouble she’s in._ _ _ _

____ _ _

____Xxxxx_ _ _ _

____ _ _

____When Michael Campbell dies, Jaz knocks on his door late at night. She knows he’s not sleeping because his breathing is not deep enough right now. Jaz has been listening to the sounds of everyone on the team, and she can recognize all of them, but Adam’s breaths are engraved in her memory._ _ _ _

____« Hey, » She says as she slips inside his room. It feels too familiar, doing this and she probably shouldn’t, but she knows Adam won’t ever let anyone see his grief._ _ _ _

____He’s sitting on his bed, eyes rimmed with red and hair askew. It’s the least in control Jaz has ever seen her CO be, and it tugs at some deep pulling strings._ _ _ _

____Jaz makes her way to the bed, sitting right next to him, her thigh pressing against his. She remember how he did the same thing for weeks after Elijah, the touch of his skin on hers calming her._ _ _ _

____« Hey, » Adam answers and she’s never heard him sound so broken._ _ _ _

____She wants to tell him how sorry she is, but the words get stuck in her throat because she hated it when people told her that about Elijah. Back then, she frankly didn’t give a fuck about how sorry people were because she was the one without her best friend and it was all that mattered._ _ _ _

____Instead, she runs her fingers through his wild hair just like he did weeks ago. His head falls to her shoulder and she leans into him, doing her best to remain a pillar of strength._ _ _ _

____« How was he? » Jaz asks, because she found that holding on to the happy memories was the only way to soften the pain._ _ _ _

____And so he starts. Adam launches himself into stories about military school. How he got busted stealing a car and got sent there by a benevolent judge who had mercy on him. He tells her how he met Michael, how the two of them became best friends and how he went to Patricia’s on holidays. How she was like a real mother to him, not like the one he had who kept driving him back to this hell hole._ _ _ _

____Jaz has gleaned enough bits and pieces of information through the years to guess that Adam’s home life wasn’t far from hers. There’s something about the way he goes above and beyond to save the kids on ops, the little comments or a narrowing of the eyes that she recognizes._ _ _ _

____A screwed up kid quickly knows it when he sees another one._ _ _ _

____The stories keep on tumbling down from his mouth, ones from the army, others from those not so innocent teenage years who in his case, were rimmed with too many dark stains to ever be peaceful._ _ _ _

____She keeps him talking because she knows it helps. And Adam feeds her with everything that crosses his mind until the tears take over. It’s the first time she’s seen him cry and she almost freezes._ _ _ _

____« Hey, » Jaz murmurs, thumbs wiping down his tears. « It’s alright, »_ _ _ _

____It’s the same thing he told her when Elijah died and she mimics his previous actions. Jaz pushes his head in the crook of her neck and her fingers run through his hair in a soothing motion. Her heart hurts seeing him like this and she wishes she could cary some of the pain for him._ _ _ _

____« Adam, trust me when I say it gets better, »_ _ _ _

____He raises his head from her shoulder at that. Adam tugs her closer and Jaz finds herself half-sprawled on his lap. Their eyes are glued to each other, Jaz’s anxiously looking for tears in his._ _ _ _

____Adam kisses her._ _ _ _

____She’s been wanting this moment for so long and she doesn’t know how to react because this is not the way she would have thought this would happen. Jaz wants him to kiss her because he loves her, not because his best friend is dead._ _ _ _

____But she also wants to take away all of his pain and she’ll do whatever it takes to do it, so she kisses him back with everything she’s got, letting her eyes flutter close._ _ _ _

____He pulls away after a moment, she’s not exactly sure how long because her beating heart makes concentrating difficult._ _ _ _

____« I’m sorry, » he apologizes, his large palm cupping her cheek. His eyes are wide with worry, studying her face for any sign of fear._ _ _ _

____« I’m not, » she whispers. Jaz wants to kiss him again, to make him forget everything, but Adam looks tortured enough as it is so she brushes the hair out of his forehead. « It’s ok, »_ _ _ _

____He seems to get it. That she doesn’t mind kissing him. That all she wants to do is to help._ _ _ _

____They fall asleep together that night._ _ _ _

____ _ _

____Xxxxx_ _ _ _

____ _ _

____It comes as a second nature now, reaching for her.  
Wordless glances used to be enough. Now, he finds he needs the touch of her skin. _ _ _ _

____When they get back from Tehran, Adam quickly finds that he can’t let her get out of his sight. The medics try to pry him away from Jaz, but she stubbornly refuses. Her hand clasps his with a death grip and the medics finally relent, letting Adam stay as long as he sits by the chair on the other side of the room to let them the space they need to work._ _ _ _

____He tries really hard not to look at her injuries, but he still ends up doing it. He catalogs every mark, every bruise, knowing he will return to the list when the darkness comes._ _ _ _

____Jaz keeps her eyes on him, the only thing that looks alive in her stone cold and silent face._ _ _ _

____Things don’t get much better once they’re back at the hut. Jaz does not like to be mothered, so he tries to act nonchalant with his newfound need to constantly be near her. He’s always in her vicinity, filing paperwork in the back of the room, training when she boxes, remembering a sudden need to swing by the grocery store when she goes into town. It relaxes him, knowing that she’s alright._ _ _ _

____Adam’s not ready to let her go yet._ _ _ _

____He tries, he really tries to do it, but he always ends up panicking a little whenever he can’t see her. Adam tells himself it’s because he’s feeling ashamed of his performance as a CO, but deep down he knows it’s not the real reason._ _ _ _

____Because he almost lost her and he can’t do it again._ _ _ _

____The nights come and those are the hardest. They each have their own way of dealing with that thing that happened to them and while Jaz simply decides to forgo sleep whenever she has nightmares, Adam finds himself waking up, heart racing, hovering between reality and sleep._ _ _ _

____It’s in one of those dream-like trance that he half-wakes up, panic seizing him by the throat. His dream was vivid, so life-like that he has to make sure she’s safe._ _ _ _

____Adam’s feet hit the ground and he goes to her door. He opens it without knocking, barely more than an inch, sneaking a peak to try and convince himself that she is here. Safe and sound, tucked into her mountains of pillow._ _ _ _

____She’s sleeping, her breaths coming out softly, and the sight of her like that calms him down._ _ _ _

____Adam closes her eyes, but his dream resurfaces and he knows he won’t be able to sleep tonight. Instead, he slips into her room and closes the door behind him. He slides to the floor with his back to the wall, staring at her just to make sure she’s still there._ _ _ _

____He keeps having those nightmares where he wakes up, sweating and panting as he reaches for her. Adam’s not exactly sure why, they’ve only shared a bed in the weeks after Elijah and Michael’s deaths. Some part of him is very aware it’s a pattern they fall into whenever something traumatic pops up in their lives, and he wonders if he should seek her once more._ _ _ _

____Every night, he slips into her room, falling asleep on the floor, next to her bed. He always wakes up before her, getting out of her room before she even realizes he’s there._ _ _ _

____After three days, he finds her alone in the kitchen in the middle of the afternoon._ _ _ _

____« You know, you could always sleep in my bed, » she says, raising her eyes from her cup of coffee._ _ _ _

____« Excuse me? » Adam is not sure if she’s asking or if she’s figured out his little trick._ _ _ _

____« It’s better than the floor, » Jaz shrugs. « And it helps me you know? Having you next to me, »_ _ _ _

____And so it starts. Every night, he joins her in her bed and wraps his arms around her thin frame. This finally calms him down, knowing she’s safe._ _ _ _

____For both of them, it’s the end of the nightmares._ _ _ _

____ _ _

____Xxxxx_ _ _ _

____ _ _

____When Preach happens, Jaz joins him in his room that night. They're both crying, but she’s shaking and he can’t resist pulling her to his chest. He holds her until the sobs turn to soft cries and it breaks his heart all over again to see her so broken._ _ _ _

____Jaz doesn’t speak at all to him, her eyes say it all. They’ve been doing this for long enough now, the comfort sleeping thing that only seems to work between the two of them._ _ _ _

____He needs the touch of her skin to calm himself down and he’s pretty sure it’s the same for her. So he pulls her closer once again, in another one of their embraces where she’s on his lap and he’s smoothing down her hair. This time, she wraps her legs around his waist and buries her face in the crook of his shoulder._ _ _ _

____Her breath is hot on his skin and Adam shivers before pressing a butterfly kiss to her neck. He has no idea what possesses him to do it, but he still does._ _ _ _

____Jaz slowly raises her head, and what he finds in her eyes is unlike everything he’s ever seen from her. It’s a fierce flame that burns in them, one that captivates him enough not to realize she’s leaning towards him until her lips are on his._ _ _ _

____His reaction is immediate and his tongue automatically asks for entry. Jaz gives it to him, moaning and her hands are everywhere; pulling at his locks, grasping at his shirt, digging into his shoulders. Her body undulates against his, her hips rubbing themselves against his erection._ _ _ _

____Jaz takes his shirt away and she pulls in a breath as she touches him gingerly and they both stop for a second, scanning the other, appraising. Adam’s fingers linger at the hem of her shirt, watching her face carefully. She nods, giving him permission and his hands tremble as he passes it over her head, leaving her in nothing but a bra._ _ _ _

____Adam’s eyes grow heavy, darkened blue and dilated pupils as he takes her in, that perfect soft skin stretching over her lithe muscles. He stares, longer than he’s ever stared at her, memorizing every single thing._ _ _ _

_____You’re beautiful _is what he wants to tell her, but the words get caught in his throat, choked up with the emotions of Preach and Hoffman and _her _, giving herself willingly to him.____ _ _ _ _

________Instead, he kisses her once again and her breasts splay against his chest. He brings a hand between them, cupping her and he groans into her mouth as he feels her stiffened nipple under the pad of his thumb._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________His hands move down her sides, still unsteady as he reaches for the clasp of her bra. Adam barely reaches it before the phone rings and he freezes._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Jaz looks at him and he knows the moment is gone. He picks up the phone and it’s Noah telling them Preach is up._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________They get in the SUV, uncharacteristicly silent. Over the holster, Jaz puts her hand on top of his. Adam glances at her, barely moving his head, but he gives her a soft smile._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________He intertwines their fingers and doesn’t let go for the rest of the ride._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

**Author's Note:**

> Next up we go see baby Dalton guys. I promise :)


End file.
